Conference May Expand W&m, Jmu Are Candidates

The Yankee Conference is considering expanding to add William and Mary and James Madison in a football-only agreement beginning with the 1993 season, Yankee commissioner Dave Nelson said Tuesday.

``Discussion of expansion is on the agenda at the presidents' meeting,'' Nelson said, ``but there are liable to be other considerations as well. It's up to the presidents whether they want to expand, but the fact that it's on the agenda is certainly a sign.''

The annual league presidents' meeting will be held Friday in New York. Nelson said the league is considering adding three schools to its nine-team format, with Northeastern being the third, and would then form two divisions of six teams each. The Yankee is comprised of NCAA Division I-AA teams.

The proposed format would have a Northern or New England division and a Mid-Atlantic Division. The Northern would be comprised of current members Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Boston University, Maine and Rhode Island. The Mid-Atlantic would include current members Delaware, Richmond and Villanova, who would be joined by W&M, JMU and Northeastern.

Nelson said that under this proposed alignment, a team would play each team in its division once during the season, and then would play four of the six teams in the other division. Schools then could schedule two non-conference games.

Nelson also said the conference wants a championship game matching the division winners, with the winner getting an automatic bid to the I-AA playoffs. Any proposed format would need NCAA approval.

W&M athletic director John Randolph said Tuesday the school remains interested in conference affiliation, but no move is imminent. W&M football coach Jimmye Laycock also said he saw advantages to joining a conference.

``I've always said that I'd like to be in a conference, under the right circumstances,'' Laycock said. ``One advantage of conference affiliation is the opportunity for the automatic bid to the playoffs. I would want the type of situation, though, where we could continue some of the rivalries we've built up.''

W&M and JMU currently are I-AA independents, while Northeastern is a Division II independent.

Richmond AD Chuck Boone said Tuesday the new alignment would allow Richmond two games of flexibility in scheduling.